Will you try it with me?"
"Of course," she answered; "I had as soon die of a broken neck as in any
other way."
"We must watch our chance then, or they will see us run and shoot. Wait
till I give you the signal."
She nodded her head and we waited.
At length, while the fourth and last merchant, who stood next to me,
was being dealt with, just as in our despair we were about to
throw ourselves into the gulf before them all, fortune gave us our
opportunity. This unhappy man, having probably some inkling of the doom
which awaited him, broke suddenly from the hands of his captors, and ran
at full speed down the road. After him they went pell-mell, every thief
of them except one who remained--fortunately for us upon its farther
side--on guard by the door of the diligence in which four people, three
merchants and a priest, were now imprisoned. With laughs and shouts they
hunted their wretched quarry, firing shots as they ran, till at length
one of them overtook the man and cut him down with his _machete_.
"Don't look, but come," I whispered to my companion.
In another instant we were at the edge of the cliff, and a foot or so
below us was spread the dense, impenetrable blanket of mist. I stopped
and hesitated, for the next step might be my last.
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